Australian surfers Molly Picklum and Jack Robinson conquer Hawaiian monsters

Australian Olympic medal favourites produced two epic rides to conquer the monster surf and swamp their rivals at Sunset Beach.

Molly Picklum celebrates back-to-back Sunset Beach wins Picture: Tony Heff/World Surf League

Sunset Beach’s playing field is so large you feel like you’re paddling around the outfield of the Melbourne Cricket Ground in a non-stop attempt to park yourself in the ideal takeoff spot. You want to reach mid-off, so to say, and then stroke onto a towering set wave but the playing field is moving and the currents keep pushing you down to third man. It’s exhausting.

You can only marvel at the triumphs of Molly Picklum and Jack Robinson at the Hurley Pro Sunset Breach. Marvel at their endurance, marvel at their strength in paddling and riding then paddling again then riding again and copping huge wipe-outs and gasping for breath then paddling and riding all over again. It’s just such a demanding location. Picklum and Robinson conquered it on a totally triumphant day for Australian surfing. We’re busting down the door all over again.

NSW’s Picklum beat Sunset local Bettylou Sakura Johnson by 11.83 points to 8.67 to leave Hawaii as the world No.1. Back-to-back Sunset champions are rare but Picklum, who was only narrowly pipped in the final of last week’s Pipe Pro, is raising the bar in big-wave women’s surfing. In her semi-final against Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessey, she took off on a bomb, swung right, glanced up at the avalanche of whitewater and attacked it. She unleashed a perfectly reckless hook that earned her 9.67 points and left her pumping her fists and throwing punches at the sky.

Jack Robinson during finals day at Sunset Beach at Oahu. Picture: Brent Bielmann/World Surf League

“What a moment,” Picklum said after the final. “Defending your title is so hard in this sport because the ocean is in charge. I was like, what?! You can’t predict Sunset. It’s crazy. This is right up there for me. It’s Sunset and you’ve gotta just commit and go for it and hope for the best. Luckily I made it (on the 9.67-pointer). Otherwise I was dead.”

Told she now had the yellow jersey as world No, Picklum hollered: “Yeah, baby!”

Robinson has a spiritual side and kept gazing at the real mountains in the background before latching onto the liquid ones. He blew the final against Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi to smithereens with a 9.87-point ride that was so calm and skilful it was a bit spooky. He dug his rail into a long and glorious carve. Ducked under the hood of a barrel. Took a look around and came out like it was no big thing. Then he disappeared into another tube. Too easy. Two judges gave him the maximum of ten points. The other three must be impossible to please.

Molly Picklum produced a carve that scored 9.67 Picture: Tony Heff/World Surf League

Robinson’s impeccable final earned 18.04 points to Igarashi’s 15.16. He moved to world No. 2 before the tour’s next stop at Portugal from March 6. “Far out,” Robinson said, whose toddler son Zen was at the beach. “It’s been a crazy last few months. Had a baby at home before coming to Hawaii and it’s all so new. Man, I’m just living this moment. I’m enjoying it so much. It’s really special. I love everyone who supports me and I’m just so grateful for this moment.”

Dual Australian winners in a prestigious contest. Busting the door in an Olympic year. Robinson’s sixth WSL win was his first as a dad. “It’s super-special,” he said. “Zen’s first win. I’m still soaking it in so you don’t always have the words to describe it but it’s so special. I was focused on myself. No expectations but boom, some big scores. It didn’t really matter what else was going on. Two barrels on one wave. It was the gift that kept on giving. I was just like, ‘Let’s go surf.’ It came together the way I wanted it to.”